The ASPECS Metamodel

ASPECS metamodel has been built by adopting the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and thus we defined three levels of models. Actually we regard them as metamodels.

This seems to us coherent with the most accepted definition of metamodel: a metamodel is a "model of a model", and it provides an explicit representation of the constructs and relationships needed to build specific models within a domain of interest. We also label the three metamodels "domains" thus maintaining the link with the PASSI metamodel that was one of our inspirations. The three domains we defined are:

The Problem Domain provides the organizational description of the problem independently of a specific solution. The concepts introduced in this domain are mainly used during the analysis phase and at the beginning of the design phase.

The Agency Domain introduces agent-related concepts and provides a description of the, possibly holonic, multiagent solution; this solution is based on a refinement of the Problem Domain elements.

The Solution Domain is related to the implementation of the solution on a specific platfom. This domain is thus dependent of a particular implementation and deployment platform. In our case, this part of the process is based on the Janus platform that we specifically designed to ease the implementation of holonic and organizational models.